Climate Change Series

Scientist at work: Tracking melt water under the Greenland ice sheet

Sep 23, 2016 00:19 am UTC| Nature

During the past decade, Ive spent nearly a year of my life living on the Greenland ice sheet to study how melt water impacts the movement of the ice. What happens to the water that finds its way from the melting ice...

How do antibiotic-resistant bacteria get into the environment?

Sep 22, 2016 23:03 pm UTC| Science Nature

Antibiotic resistance is a growing public health problem. The United Nations recently acknowledged this as one of the biggest threats to modern medicine, dedicating a high-level meeting to the issue at the 2016 General...

Climate Change Series

The Great Barrier Reef's 'new normal' is a forlorn sight

Sep 22, 2016 06:34 am UTC| Nature

Images of this years coral bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef shocked the world. Some tour operators expressed concern that the extensive and sometimes simplistic media coverage would hurt their businesses. The reef...

Four threats to global food security and what we can do about them

Sep 21, 2016 17:26 pm UTC| Nature

Can we really feed nine billion people? Thats the estimated global population in the year 2050. It should be possible, but things are looking tricky especially when we also factor in the climatic instability caused by...

Invasive predators are eating the world's animals to extinction – and the worst is close to home

Sep 20, 2016 12:08 pm UTC| Nature

Invasive species are a threat to wildlife across the globe and invasive, predatory mammals are particularly damaging. Our research, recently published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, shows that...

What exactly does 'instantaneous' mean?

Sep 15, 2016 03:03 am UTC| Science Nature

How short is an instant? Is it a second? A tenth of a second? A microsecond? You might think all of these qualify. What about 100 years? That certainly doesnt seem like an instant, and to a human being, it isnt, since wed...

Why electric fans may not help the elderly in a heatwave

Sep 07, 2016 11:30 am UTC| Technology Nature

Researchers have found that when elderly people use an electric fan in extreme heat, instead of cooling them down, it actually raises their core body temperature and increases their heart rate. Our bodies produce heat...